Humanverse

Elden vs Eldene

American parents have registered 5,932 Eldens since 1880, against 129 Eldenes. Elden is still ahead, with 36 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Elden against Eldene, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Elden Eldene

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Elden has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1884 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1941, when Elden had 70 and Eldene had 7.

Side by side

  Elden Eldene
Total US births 5,932129
Most in one year 1419
Babies in 2025 36under 5
Estimated living today 2,30020
Median age today 5185
Peak year 19221918
Best rank 520th boys3,244th girls
Rank in 2025 3,240thunranked
First recorded 18841918
Girls / boys 11 / 5,921129 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Eldenes alive today are over 85; half the Eldens are over 51. That is 34 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Elden and Eldene.